On Wednesday, Fujitsu announced that it had updated its series of internal hard drives. The new 2.5″ drives, which will function as Serial Attached SCSI and Serial ATA drives, function at 15,000 RPM for the MBC2 series. The company’s new 3.5″ MBA3 drives function at 15,000 RPM and the MBB2 series of 2.5″ drives are said to run at 10,000 RPM.
The company also introduced the MHW2 BK 2.5″ drive, a 2.5″ SATA-compatible drive designed for 24-hour continuous operation. The MHW2 BK drive is available in capacities up to 120 gigabytes and includes built-in features designed to reduce damage caused by rotational vibration.
Full technical details can be found here, albeit pricing, availability and drive capacities to be offered have yet to be announced.
Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.

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On Thursday, Parallels announced the upcoming version of its virtualization software, Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac.
According to Macworld News, the upcoming version will sport additional 3D gaming support and add a new feature called SmartSelect, which will allow users to open any file on either the Mac OS X or Windows operating system with an application designed for either operating system. This feature is meant to function alongside Parallels’ Coherence feature which allows users to opern Windows applications directly from Mac OS X.
Similar to Apple’s upcoming Time Machine feature in Mac OS X 10.5, Parallels Desktop for Mac 3.0 will feature a “Snapshots” feature that can store various virtual machine state and allow users to flip back to previous states as needed. Isolation and integration are controlled using the VM Sentry program and the new version will allow users to make their virtual environments read-only if desired. The company is also including a six month trial of viral and spyware protection programs.
Parallels Desktop for Mac is currently at a final candidate stage and is being tested through a closed beta. The final version is expected within a few weeks and will retail for US$79.99 with upgrades being available for US$49.99. A reduced upgrade price of US$39.99 is now being offered through June 6th, 2007.

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Even if some of us are a tad skeptical as to whether the iPhone can possibly live up to its hype, Apple seems to have added some pretty cool new technologies to it. A recently granted patent made only a few weeks before the January Macworld Expo, where the iPhone was announced, demonstrates what Apple planned to do about the iPhone potentially interfering with other peripherals within a certain range of the device.
According to electronista, a small detector chip installed within the iPhone’s hardware could be trained to recognize certain classes of devices and warn the user if these devices could interrupt the iPhone’s main signal. The warning could take place via either an audio or visual cue, as described in the patent and Apple notes that an updated list could be provided in order to prevent false positives.
The hardware can also be used to help maintain a clean signal according to the write-up. Onboard software can continuously readjust the device’s antenna to keep an optimal signal for the user.
Albeit the patent doesn’t specifically refer to the iPhone, Apple may be able to license the technology as well as use it in additional products down the line.

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And now, the iPhone-related news:
According to CNet, during an interview with Wall Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg at the paper’s D Conference, Apple CEO Steve Jobs mentioned that while the iPhone won’t ship with support for third party applications, Apple is open to the idea and is working to make this possible later in 2007. Jobs implied that there were concerns about security issues, which could have added to the delay.
Despite a direct question during the interview, Jobs did not mention an exact release date for the device.
A full transcript of the event can be found over at Engadget while a web clip can be seen below:

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On Wednesday, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced that the company would be adding YouTube support to its Apple TV device via a free software update available in mid-June.
According to Macworld News, users will be able to select YouTube from the Apple TV’s main menu, then browse through content from the YouTube web site. The company stated that it would gradually add the most current and popular YouTube content over time until the entire catalog was offered this fall. The content will be gradually converted via Apple’s supported H.264 video codec.
All content uploaded from June on will be automatically encoded under the H.264 protocol, making it compatible with the Apple TV.
In an anticipated move, Apple also announced that it would be offering a larger hard drive as a build-to-order option through the Apple Store. A new configuration will include a 160 gigabyte hard drive, which will be four times the capacity of the current hard drive.
The 160 gigabyte configuration retails for US$399.00.

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On Tuesday, Apple released a security update for its QuickTime media software. The patch, a 1.4 megabyte download, repairs two issues in which an outside user could both execute malicious code as well as access critical information on a Mac.
According to Macworld News, the outside code issue could have been triggered via a specifically-crafted Java applet, which could trigger arbitrary code. Apple has apparently added a supplemental validation process for Java applets to work against this.
A second exploit, which also used a hole in Apple’s then-current QuickTime for Java code, could allow a web browser’s memory (i.e., “history”) to be read by a Java applet. The fix clears the browser’s memory prior to allowing it to be accessed via Java applets.
For more information on Apple QuickTime 7.1.6 Security Update 1.0, click here.
The update can also be accessed via Mac OS X’s Software Update feature and requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later to run.
If you’ve downloaded the update and have positive or negative feedback either way, let us know.

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On Tuesday, Taiwanese financial newspapers the Commercial Times and Economic Daily News reported that laptop PC manufacturer Quanta will start producing an initial run of five milion second generation of iPhone handsets this September.
According to Macworld UK, Apple is slated to take delivery of the units. The second generation iPhone will reportedly sport a revised outer design to appeal to different markets.
In the resulting statement, Quanta commented that it is taking measures to attract new business and contracts, but declined to offer current details, as agreements with customers are confidential.
An anonymous source within the company stated that the firm has yet to win orders for the iPhone, but that the company is competing for such orders.
Currently, Hon Hai Precision Industry (a.k.a. “Foxconn”) is believed to be the principle manufacturer of the iPhone. No comments were available, as customer order information is kept confidential.
The iPhone is slated to ship in June.

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Axiotron‘s long-awaited ModBook, the first mainstream tablet version of a Mac via converted MacBook laptops, will arrive with additional RAM as well as other build-to-order options according to jkOnTheRun.
Recently, pre-order customers received an e-mail from the ModBook group outlining facts such as shipping dates, a complimentary upgrade from 256 megabytes of RAM to 512 megabytes of RAM and that build-to-order options such as a 7,200 RPM hard drive, second hard drive (in lieu of the optical drive) and three gigabytes of RAM could be purchased with the current order.
Finally, the pre-ordered ModBooks will be based on the current MacBook laptops that were released by Apple only a few weeks ago. Units are expected to ship by the end of July.

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On Thursday, Apple released Security Update 2007-005, an update designed to repair element of Mac OS X with a specific fix centered on the iChat instant message program.
According to Macworld News, the update specifically fixes a potential buffer overflow exploit in the UPnP IGD (Internet Gateway Device Standardized Device Control Protocol) code used for port mapping functions within the iChat program. If exploited, a user could trigger an overflow and cause applications to terminate as well as arbitrary code to be executed in addition to denial of services.
An additional vulnerability was discovered in the port mapping code used in home NAT gateways via Mac OS X’s dDNSResponder function. Once again, an outside user could trigger a similar overflow as the iChat bug and cause applications to terminate, arbitrary code to be executed and denial of services.
Additional fixes have been provided for the following system functions:
bind
CarbonCore
CoreGraphics
crontabs
fetchmail
file
iChat
PPP
ruby
screen
texinfo
VPN
The update requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later to run and is available both through the Software Update feature or via Apple’s Support Downloads page.
If you’ve installed the update and have either positive or negative feedback about it, let us know.

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On Thursday, Sony-Ericsson announced that it has become part of the WiMAX Forum, a consortium of companies working on an updated wireless Internet protocol.
According to MacNN, no hardware updates or new products have been announced, but it’s likely that Sony-Ericsson will begin to upgrade their products to take advantage of faster speeds.
WiMAX, also known as both a 4G technology and 802.16e, offers multi-megabit connection rates over a wider terrain of areas where slower connection rates were necessary. The protocol also helps avoid data bottlenecks in situations where a large number of users accessed a given network.
Though still new as a protocol, telephone provider Sprint has announced that it will launch a WiMax network in the United States by mid-2008.